Blur - Peter Panic (1994)

After disappointing sales for their previous album 'Modern Life Is Rubbish', Blur went into the studio determined to establish themselves as one of the leaders of the Britpop genre, alongside Suede and Pulp. Once the recording sessions for 'Modern Life Is Rubbish' were complete, Albarn began to write prolifically, with the band demoing the new songs in groups of two and three, and due to their precarious financial position at the time, the band decided to quickly go back into the studio with producer Stephen Street to record their third album. When recordings were complete the band were pleased with the final result, but Food Records owner David Balfe was not, telling the band's management that the album was a mistake, and then soon afterwards Balfe sold Food to EMI. Albarn has explained that for him, 'Parklife' was like a loosely linked concept album involving a number of different stories, and he has cited the Martin Amis novel 'London Fields' as a major influence on the record. The songs themselves span many genres, such as the synthpop-influenced hit single 'Girls & Boys', the instrumental waltz interlude of 'The Debt Collector', the punk rock-influenced 'Bank Holiday', the spacey, Syd Barrett-esque 'Far Out', and the fairly new wave-influenced 'Trouble In The Message Centre'. The album was originally going to be entitled 'London' and the cover shot was going to be of a fruit-and-vegetable cart, but this was later changed to 'Parklife', which is a reference to the British pastime of greyhound racing. The album was met with almost universal critical praise, and has gone on to become one of the most acclaimed albums of the 1990's. Because Albarn was so prolific during this period there were a number of songs recorded at the sessions which were held back, either for use as future b-sides, or just because they didn't fit on the album, and they were collected on a 4-CD bootleg set which rounded up everything Blur produced around the time of 'Parklife', including the remixes, radio sessions, demos and live performances. For this album I've chosen only the songs which haven't previously appeared in any form (with the exception of 'Trouble In The Message Centre', as the demo for this is drastically different to the album version), so just the b-sides and demos, which make a great 46-minute companion to the classic album, all housed in a affectionate homage to the original sleeve by Reckoner97. 

Track listing

01 Magpie (b-side of 'Girls & Boys' 1994)
02 Anniversary Waltz (b-side of 'Girls & Boys' 1994)
03 People In Europe (b-side of 'Girls & Boys' CD single 1994)
04 Peter Panic (b-side of 'Girls & Boys' CD single 1994)
05 Never Clever (demo 1993)
06 Threadneedle Street (b-side of 'To The End' 1994)
07 Got Yer! (b-side of 'To The End' 1994)
08 Trouble In The Message Centre (demo 1993)
09 Beard (b-side of 'Parklife' 1994)
10 To The End (French Version) (b-side of 'Parklife' 1994)
11 Supa Shoppa (b-side of 'Parklife' 1994)
12 Theme From An Imaginary Film (b-side of 'Parklife' CD single 1994)
13 Seven Days (demo 1993)
14 Red Necks (b-side of 'End Of A Century' 1994)
15 Alex's Song (b-side of 'End Of A Century' 1994)